


Too Good to be True

by Faiz



Category: Power Rangers Dino Charge
Genre: Angst, Happy endings are for nerds, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-17
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-04-04 19:08:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4149465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faiz/pseuds/Faiz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From the beginning he knew it probably wouldn't end well. People can't just change their ways with a blink of an eye.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Good to be True

**Author's Note:**

> I see all these 'aww Chase stopped being a flirt bc he loves Riley and all sunshine and rainbows and y AAAY!!' and don't get me wrong i fUCKING LOVE THEM but at the same time its like.
> 
> 'ah yes Riley is my precious small child let me just RUIN IT FOR HIM.'

Riley was never quite sure if he ever fully understood the meaning of being in a relationship. In his youth it felt like he had been bombarded from both sides with conflicting information that it all just became a mess in his head that he didn’t know how to deal with. And Riley hated not knowing how to deal with things, and if he couldn’t fix it properly himself...Well, he just tried to forget it existed. The problem with being a perfectionist, it could be assumed. 

When he was very little, a relationship was mostly mama being at home and daddy being away. Because daddy was always away since he was in the military. It had been a bit of a shock to him when he entered school and learned that other kids had both their parents at home nearly all the time, and didn’t have to deal with constant tearful goodbyes as daddy had to leave again. Then came along other situations where his mother would laugh awkwardly as Riley wistfully said he wanted to marry Aladdin.

She would insist to him that he should marry Jasmine, but Riley refused and refused until he finally gave up and just nodded to make his mama smile again.

When Matt was in high school he got in trouble because mama found out that Matt wasn’t just dating Rosie from down the road, but that he and Rosie had also been dating Patrick from the dairy farm. Matt got grounded and had to break up with both of them, but Riley saw Matt sneak out still a few times after that. He found out later that Rosie from down the road moved to Michigan and Patrick from the dairy farm had been sent to live with his grandparents. 

After that incident, Matt took it upon himself to explain a lot of things to Riley. Things about relationships and sexuality that he wasn’t fully sure he completely understood, but that he definitely believed a lot more than what his mama said. 

Because mama lied a lot.

Like how she lied when she said that Riley had finally grown out of getting silly crushes on boys, and had insisted that he shouldn’t talk to Eric from the third grade anymore (because she had found out he and Riley had pecked each other on lips while playing hide and seek with their friends). And how she always talked about her brother, his Uncle Casey, and his ‘friend’ RJ. And it was always his ‘friend’. Until Matt and Riley visited them on their own and Uncle Casey gave RJ a kiss that definitely wasn’t what friends did. From then on, Riley had started calling him Uncle RJ. Even if it made his mama shift a bit whenever he did it. 

In her mind, even Matt was being the proper young man and dating only women, even though Riley had accidentally walked in on him making out with his best friend Heath and had been made to promise to not tell anyone about it.

When Riley had gotten the green Energem and was blessed with the prospect of being away from home, he thought he’d finally be away from all the mess. He’d be too focused on saving the world and a new job to even have to deal with the stress of whatever the hell love was and whatever relationships were meant to be. But no, life would not let him get away with such a thing that easily. Because he had fallen for someone. And fallen for them hard.

And it just had to have been Chase Randall. The black ranger who flirted with nearly everything that breathed. Not a soul knew about the crush, only his brother Matt who he trusted enough with the secret. He didn’t know how the rest of the team would take it, and he sure as hell didn’t want to ruin the team dynamic that they had already forged (even with the new additions of Matt and Ivan)

But at some point maybe his walls had cracked, because it felt like Chase had finally caught on to Riley’s little crush. And suddenly Riley was noticing these lingering looks and touches that Chase would give him. He’d do things that would purposely make Riley step back a bit, stutter, and even blush. It was like he was suddenly always around.

“Matt, I swear to god. Please help me. I don’t know what to do! I just...Fuck. I can handle puzzles. I can handle tests, quiz games, fighting giant monsters that could kill me. But I don’t know relationships.”

Matt’s eyes temporarily broke their gaze from watching Ivan from across the room, who was currently in deep conversation with Miss Morgan. “You oughta be careful around him. He doesn’t strike me as the Prince Charming type. He’s definitely one who would sleep around.”

Riley sighed and rested his head on his hands. “You’re one to talk Matt.”

Matt made a face at Riley. “I never cheated. We were all mutually together and you know that.”

“Yeah, yeah...I mean I guess you’re right. It’s not like he’d immediately do a 180 and suddenly be perfect boyfriend material...I’ll avoid him.”

Though that had proved to be difficult. Who knows what had happened, but Chase’s flirting seemed to have reached maximum capacity as he approached Riley. And despite Riley’s better judgments, despite all the little voices of reason in his head screaming at him that this was literally the worst idea ever. Riley allowed his head to be tilted back and even reciprocated when Chase finally kissed him in one of the storage rooms in the Dino Bite.

He couldn’t help it. He was still attracted to Chase, and oh god kissing him had been so great. It had almost been a surprise later on where Chase entwined his hand with Riley’s own, and to Riley it felt so completely right. He smiled at Chase and he smiled back and Riley thought in his own mind that maybe he and Matt had been wrong. Maybe Chase could change and actually be a good guy.

“Hey, love. Gotta go meet up with some mates. See you tomorrow, yeah?” Chase smiled at him.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” Chase leaned down and pecked him on the lips before running off leaving Riley behind.

Perhaps that should have been the first clue. 

The fact that they never really seemed to go on dates at all. And not even for the fact that they were both poor teenagers, because even Tyler and Shelby found time to take walks to the park and watch movies on occasion. But Riley and Chase never did that. It was mostly just making out, going to Chase’s house, making out some more, maybe doing other things, falling asleep, and then leaving Chase’s house. He wasn’t sure why it didn’t hit him until way too late that this wasn’t how relationships were meant to go.

“Haven’t seen you and Chase together in a while.” Miss Morgan mumbled as she and Riley poured over some samples that Shelby had brought in earlier of a monster that they were still after.

Riley raised an eyebrow. Miss Morgan didn’t seem the type who would be all that into the relationships and goings on in her teenage ranger team. Hell, most of the time she audibly told Matt and Ivan that she didn’t want to know what any couple was doing in their free time (but that may just be because Matt had special fun messing with her. ‘Like terrorizing the sister I never had’ he had said before purposely licking Ivan’s cheek to make Miss Morgan shudder.)

“He’s been busy with stuff, you know how it is. He has class...and things.” Riley replied, not wanting to admit that he really wasn’t actually sure what Chase was up to. 

He also didn’t want to admit that he had seen Chase get some phone numbers from girls that he had been serving at the Dino Bite. But clearly his hesitation showed on his face and Miss Morgan set down what she had been looking at. “Go talk to him. Shelby and I can hold down the fort easily. I don’t want you to make yourself mentally explode by avoiding things. Your brother already told me you have an issue with that.”

Riley just nodded and set down the samples he had in hand before grabbing his bag and running out, his mind whirring as he jogged towards Chase’s shared apartment. He let himself in with the key that he knew they hid by their doorway in case one of his roommates got way drunk and needed someone to let them in. Riley could feel his throat tighten as he walked towards Chase’s room like he was walking to his death.

Yet somehow despite the horrible pain he felt in his chest and the tears he felt welling up in the corners of his eyes, he wasn’t surprised that he saw Chase with another girl. And he wasn’t surprised when one of his other non-ranger coworkers admitted that they knew Chase had been cheating but weren’t sure how to tell Riley. He just stood there for a few seconds at the doorway as Chase scrambled around trying to explain himself when there really wasn’t anything to explain. 

But Riley had already turned around and stalked out, walking and walking until he was at his Uncle Casey and RJ’s house even though neither were home, and he hid in the guest bedroom that he was sharing with Matt. He sat in the corner and put his head in his hands and cried.

He cried because he knew from the beginning it wouldn’t end well yet he did it anyways. He cried because he hated the fact that he had a crush on Chase in general, and cried at the fact that he had to get crushes on boys and not girls and that he wasn’t as cool or charming like his brother or was like what his mama wanted. He cried because it was just one break up and he’s only seventeen and there’ll be more relationships after that. But in that moment his entire world came crashing down and it hurt even if he wasn’t surprised.

He didn’t understand relationships at all. 

And he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to.

**Author's Note:**

> Chase i'm sorry ily


End file.
